Exterior Lights Wood Mounting Blocks

Normally we just install our exterior light fixtures directly on top of the cedar shingles and just cut the shingles so that they do not cover the electrical box.  This can cause the light fixture not to sit flat because the shingles are thicker at the bottom than at the top.  So to correct this problem we made our own wood mounting blocks. 

Of course you know that we made them out of scrap wood.  We used 2 pieces of 1X6 glued together.  After the glue dried we cut the wood to measure 5 1/4 X 5 1/4 inches.  To gild the lily, so to speak, we ran the router around the edge with a round over bit.  The bit was adjusted down just a hair to give us not only a rounded finish on the edge but an additional detail on the top.

Then we drilled a tiny pilot hole in each corner for a finish nail.  We also drilled out the center so we could pull the wires through and then attached the mounting bar for the exterior light fixture.

There was some debate (argument/discussion) over whether the mounting blocks should be oriented square or rotated 90 degrees so it looks like a diamond.  We (I won) decided on the diamond orientation because it accommodates the shaped of the light fixture where it mounts to the house.

When I look at that above photo, the mounting blocks do not look like they are in the same place on each side.  I am not exaggerating when I say we measured three times and the only difference is less than an 1/8th of an inch spacing side to side.  The up and down measurement is right on the money.  

We installed more shingles and are up to the the sides of the mounting blocks when we ran out of wider shingles. We were ready to quit because it was a long day today.  Yesterday we loaded up half of the old Anderson windows that we removed and replaced with the restoration windows.  And this morning we used one of our two allotted dumping permits to get rid of those windows.  We backed up to the dumpster (located on a lower level) with the tailgate lowered and then just slid the windows off the truck and into the dumpster.

We have 4 big picture windows left to get rid of but they are far too heavy for me to lift so our son is going to stop by on Sunday to help R load the last 4 windows into the truck.  Then we will use the other dumping permit to get rid of those 4 windows. 

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